Free spring metal reed



Sept. 12, 1939. 5

FREE SPRING METAL REED Filed March '7, 1958 FIEJ.

g INVENTOR,

wzmmu Patented Sept. 12, 1939 UNITED STATES FREE SPRING IVIETAL REED James S. Hall, Methuen, Mass, assignor to Emmons Loom Harness Company, Lawrence, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application March 7, 1938, Serial No. 194,340

3 Claims.

Thisinvention relates to loom reeds of the type where metal dents are accurately held at the ends in parallel relationship, with spaces between for the warp threads, known in the trade as metal reeds as distinguished from the wood and thread type known more or less as pitch back reeds.

The particular purpose of this invention is to provide a reed made entirely of metal but in which the dents are firmly but resiliently held at their ends so that they will yield sideways to permit a slub or other bunch to pass but will spring back into place after it has passed. My construction also minimizes or softens the effect of vibration on the dents.

It consists substantially of dents of the usual flat type which are held together for a short distance from their top and bottom ends by solder between their fiat faces and by a strip of metal of a special shape at their front and back edges. These strips may merely engage the edges of the dents or they may be held to the faces and edges of the ends of the dents by solder. Each strip extends inward and is bent at its margin in such a curve that it holds a free coiled g5 spring in place. Thiscoiled spring is not soldered and is not fastened to anything but is kept in position by the curved margins of the strips and by two segmental rods.

This construction allows the use of simple headers which are rigidly fastened to and between the sets of top strips and of bottom strips at each end by solder and rivets or either of them or they may be merely soldered to the dents if removable strips or a removable strip is used. By

using free springs of wire having a diameter less than the spaces between the dents, the dents can bend sideways and also twist somewhat but will always be brought back to their correct position.

I am-aware that the attempt has been made to hold dents rigidly at their ends and, along parallel lines inside the ends, at the top and bottom, to provide cushioning means of string or cord of textile or other fibres. I am aware that rubber has been used as a cushioning means and I am aware that the usual construction of reeds provides for coils of wire, which are not necessarily springs, for holding the dents in position while the reed is being assembled and soldered. Most of such assembling coils are removed and 60 do not appear in the finished reed but some are permanently attached to the dents or to other parts by solder which is flowed in between their turns. Such soldering removes a great deal of the elasticity of the coil and prevents the turns 55 from moving to and from each other with any movement of the dents. They are fixed and rigidly held in place.

I believe I am the first to provide a reed in which the dents are rigidly held at their ends but are helped to be resilient by loose springs 5 positioned near to and parallel with the ends of the dents and the holding strips as a permanent part of the reed. As such springs are not soldered and are not otherwise fastened to the dents nor to any other part of the reed, I hold 10 them loosely in place by specially made top and bottom holding strips so that they cannot slip out of place.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is an end elevation of a reed of my con- 15 struction with parts broken away.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of one end of a reed such as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged end elevation of part of areed as from the left of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1'.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view onthe line 55 of Fig. l.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged end View similar to Fig. 3 25 but with different parts broken away to show the construction.

Fig. 7 is an isometric view of part of the top end of a reed with the spring holding means slid partly off. 30

Fig. 8 is an end elevation similar to Fig. 3 of a modification.

In the drawing, D represents the dents which, as shown, are of the usual shape. Each dent has an end such as l and 2, together with fiat faces 35 3, 3 and edges 4, 4.

A, A represent fiat strips'of metal, l0 representing the flat part, II the outer edge, 13 the inner edge and I2 the inner margin which in this case is curved outwardly so as to encircle and confine that portion of a spring S which projects beyond the edges 4, 4 of the dents D.

R, R represents segmental rods of which there are four. Each rod is passed between the edges of the dents and inside the turns of a spring S whereby the springs are prevented from slipping out of place.

B represents solder which is flowed in between the ends of the dents to a distance equal to the fiat part of the strips A, this solder going in between the fiat part 3 of the ends of the dents at 46 and extending out at 40 so that it reaches and holds the flat part ll] of each strip A rigidly in place with the ends of the dents.

The curved inner margin l2 of each strip A extends over part of each spring S so that while each spring can yield in the direction of the length of the reed, it cannot slip down nor out of place.

In Figs. 1, 2 and 5, H represents a header made of a flat strip equal in thickness to the width of the flat face of a dent and of a suitable width to give strength and stifiness to the reed. In the construction shown, in Figs. 1 to 5, each end of each header H is shown as held between the ends of the fiat part It of the strips A, A by solder at 42 and between its edge and the adjoining dent by solder at 4i. As shown, each header is also held in place at each end by a rivet 9.

Each header also preferably has near each end at the outside a recess l4, and the ends such as 44 of some or all of the rods R, R are bent at right angles into such a recess so that they will not slip out and so that they help to strengthen the construction of the assembly.

These rods R, R may also be soldered on each side of a header H by solder 43.

In the construction just described, all of the parts may be soldered together except the free springs S, S.

In the constructions shown in Figs. 6 and '7, however, the solder F extends only between adjoining flat faces of the dents, G, G near their outer ends 5 inward to about the line B. The solder is removed at the ends and edges of the dents so that they are substantially smooth and free of irregularities.

There is a free spring such as 7 near the top and bottom and through this extend the segmental rods 8, 8 which correspond with the rods R, R.

For spring holding means, in place of the fiat strips A, A soldered to the dents and to the headers, I use bent strips such as C, each having a middle part 25, fiat parts 20 and 2! and the outwardly curved inner margins 22 and 23 which enclose springs l and rods 8, 8.

In this construction, as shown in Fig. 6, the headers such as L are fixed in place only by the solder F at 45. The spring holding means 0', as shown in Fig. '7, can be slipped on and oil, the loose springs such as I can be removed if desired. If desired, I can use near each end of the dents two or more free springs 30 and 3| with two sets of rods 32, 32 and 33, 33, as shown in Fig. 8, and I can make the free spring holding means or strip K with two outwardly curved margins 34, 34 and 35, 35 on each side.

In Figs. 6 and '7, the end 4'! of one of the rods 8 is bent into a recess 48 in each header L.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 5, the end of a rod such as R can be bent into a recess and soldered or, as in Figs. 6 and '7, it may be merely bent or in any of the constructions, as, for instance, in Fig. 8, there may be no recess in a header such as M, the rods 32 or 33 being neither bent nor soldered. In fact, the four segmental rods, such as R, can be entirely omitted or can be removed after assembly, especially in the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, where the free spring holding means, namely, the strips A, A, are permanently soldered on each side of the ends of the dents.

I claim:

1. The combination in a loom reed of a row of parallel dents accurately spaced at equal predetermined distances from each other and soldered together at each end; with two free coiled metal springs each extending parallel with and inside the soldered ends of the dents; four segmental rods, each passed between the edges of the dents and the turns of a spring; free spring holding means along the edges of the dents at each end, each including a set of two fiat holding strips, each with an outwardly curved inside margin which encircles and confines one side of the coils of a free spring, the fiat part of each strip of each set being held in place along the ends of the dents near their ends by the solder between the end faces of adjoining dents, such solder also holding the ends of the dents together and to the flat part of the adjoining strips.

2. The combination in a loom reed of a row of parallel dents accurately spaced at pre-determined distances from each other and soldered together at each end; a metal header at the end of each row, each header being substantially as thick as the width of a dent and each having at the outside a rod recess; with two free coiled metal springs, each extending parallel with the inside of the soldered ends of the dents; four segmental rods, each passed between the edges of the dents and the turns of a spring, one end of each rod being bent into a header recess; free spring holding means along the edges near each end of the dents, each including a set of two fiat holding strips, each with an outwardly curved inside margin which encircles and conlines one side of the coils of a free spring, the flat part of each strip of each set being held in place along the ends of the dents near their ends by the solder between the end faces of adjoining dents, such solder also holding the ends of the dents together and to the fiat part of the adjoining strips.

3. The combination in a loom reed of a row of parallel dents accurately spaced at equal predetermined distances from each other and soldered together at each end; with two free coiled metal springs each extending parallel with and inside the soldered ends of the dents; free spring holding means along the edges of the dents at each end, each including a set of two fiat holding strips, each with an outwardly curved inside margin which encircles and confines one side of the coils of a free spring, the flat part of each strip of each set being held in place along the ends of the dents near their ends by the solder between the end faces of adjoining dents, such solder also holding the ends of the dents together and to the flat part of the adjoining strips.

JAMES S. HALL. 

